Chapter2

//**10 Traits of Highly Effective Teachers**//

**Chapter 2** **Personal Traits that indicate character: What an effective teacher is** If the act of caring is such an important aspect of being a "positive and real" teacher, then there must be a way for quality principals to seek out those people that exhibit this vital trait. Once those people are found, they must build upon that strength and help to maintain that quality. How does the current evaluation system in the state of Iowa do this? Or maybe it doesn't? If the current system doesn't do this, what can you do as a building principal to hire and grow this characteristic?

Dani Carter- After reviewing my personal evaluation from my principal last year to receive full licensure I think that the current system does not focus on the aspect of caring within the classroom. The only remarks within my evaluation regarding my personal traits as a person/teacher was how I handled classroom management. The concept of reaching out to students by asking them about their personal lives, going to see their events outside of school time, and personally giving them all individualized attention to discuss anything was left out. The current system I feel makes teachers appear as robots rather than as people. As a building principal, when going to hire a perspective teacher, you can ask a set of questions that will lead you to find out if they are truly passionate and caring about the profession. When we had class last semester and we met the Waterloo Chief of Police and he taught us how to read people and tell if they are lying. That is a skill that I think will benefit us when we get into the position of hiring someone and see if they have the true characteristics of a caring teacher. In order to grow the characteristic of being caring I wonder if it is possible. How can a person teach someone else how to care? How does one enforce them to ask about personal situations in life? If someone doesn't want to be there and be passionate, how can you change that? I think it needs to be somewhere in the evaluation process because I am a firm believer of being a passionate/caring teacher and getting more results that way. Being the devils advocate, I question at what point in time are we focusing too much on personal traits and not professional traits?

Emilie -I think having the personal characteristic of being a caring person does absolutely contribute to being a more effective teacher. Our current evaluation system does not do enough to recognize this characteristic as part of being an effective teacher. I think that if you are already in the field and it is not part of your nature to get to know your students and communicate to them in ways that express that you care, there is little we can do to help teachers acquire this characteristic. For those out there that already display this and we want to grow this characteristic then I think recognizing it and acknowledging it can go a long way. In regard to hiring people that we think have a caring personality, how can we be sure? I guess we can ask for examples of ways in which they have displayed being a caring teacher or how they would, could give us some additional insight.

Christine Jacobs- I do think that "caring attributes" are vital to improvement/enhancing growth in learning...A caring relationship/attitude also empowers others to lead. Effective leaders must lead by example and have an inspiring working attitude/belief system that enables others to do the same practice. If leaders don't model a caring attitude, I question how much involvement and success will occur within the district. I don't think the current evaluation systems that are put in place (in most districts) allow measurement of this attribute. The problem is CARING is hard to measure. Are you 100% caring, 50% caring, or not caring at all? What would the scale look like and what amount would be successful enough? How much of the trait must be visible? The evaluation system is a snapshot at monitoring the effectiveness of teacher instruction. It would make sense to have a variety of stakeholders list documentation examples or non-examples of TRAITS that are: 1). Mission-driven, 2). Positive and real, 3). Teacher-leader, yet specifically mention...artifacts that PROVE caring, respectful, empathetic and fair personality attributes. How to grow this characteristic can only be done by modeling and having HIGH expectations by administrators. What rewards are in place for those who do care and go the extra mile for ALL stakeholders that they care for? As far as hiring goes, I agree with Dani and Emilie that you almost have to ask for examples in the interview process. I don't have any other ideas.

Jordan Henrichs: Seeking out this trait in an interview process, has to be extremely difficult. If you have the luxury of observing a teaching candidate actually teach before hiring them, you can pay attention to the way they interact with the students. Not necessarily focus so much on the way they deliver the content (which is still important, don't get me wrong). When I was in the middle of a long-term substitute job right out of college, a principal from the district wanted to come observe me before an interview for a position in his building. During the observation, he pulled a few of my students aside and asked them questions about me. I was nervous as could be, but looking back on this, find it somewhat brilliant.

You could look for indicators of these traits in the references you receive for candidates. Look for examples in their reference letters, or if calling references on the phone, ask for specific examples. Give the candidate some scenarios to ponder during the interview, and see how they would respond. Other than that, it has to somewhat come down to gut instinct. The only teaching standard that addresses this trait, is standard 6e: "The teacher creates a safe and purposeful learning environment." In the past, I have used a classroom belief statement as an artifact to showcase this. I don't think the teaching standards address intangible traits as well as they could/should, but that is probably because they would be difficult to be measured and evaluated.

Bagnall: "I shall not today attempt to define...but I know it when I see it." This was a quote by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in a landmark court case (Jacobellis v. Ohio, 1964) attempting to determine if a film should be classified as obscenity. In a weird way "caring" falls into the same category as a concept we all know what it is, but it's hard to measure and define. I want to reassure you that when you are principals, you **will** be able to see it in your teachers. Dani makes the point that it's hard to teach caring, I agree. Caring and compassion are intrinsic attributes that what you have is probably all you will have unless you have a life changing emotional event that influences you. Emilie is absolutely correct in saying that to be effective, a teacher must have the ability to build relationships and be a caring person, the quote from the chapter "kids don't learn from people they don't like." How many of you don't like someone you think really likes and cares about you? Christine points out the problem-- caring is really hard to measure and it is subjective. I honestly believe I am a gentle, caring, teddy bear of a man. Many people that know me would not concur. Do the standards help define or evaluate caring? No, but you are in luck. The article that I am doing my presentation on discusses how to measure and develop these traits in teachers. By developing, I'm talking about making them aware of their action, not making them more caring. When I was teaching my mentor suggested I'd should smile more to make the kids feel more comfortable. He knew I cared deeply for my students, it was just a suggestion to help me convey those feelings to the students. So I do force smiles--does that mean I don't care? That's the hard part about evaluation. Throw in the fact that in the future if effective teachers are caring teachers, if merit pay goes to those who care the most we are going to have some way to document it. Jordan has a great idea, interview students. Students have an idea if their teachers care about them. If you interview the entire class, you'll get a pretty good idea. Back to my original point. In the interview process you will be able to get a pretty good idea from your interview questions you ask. Sometimes you have to go with your "gut" feeling. That's really going to drive you black and white people nuts. Put on your gray glasses for this topic.

Kimber: I think that it is important for principals to take a closer look at hiring processes. I have been involved in interviews for teachers and para-educators and I think that it is really hard to get a true feeling for the person who will be teaching, during the interview. As Dani and Brent mentioned it is hard to teach “caring” and I think it is also hard to know if someone is truly a caring person within a 20 minute interview. It is also something that is hard to measure, I like how Christine said “are you 100% caring or 50%.” I think principals need to think about out of the box hiring techniques like having teachers teach a lesson during the interview, providing student work samples, lesson plans or a video of their teaching. It sounds like Jordan had a true test of his character when he was observed as part of the interview, great idea, although nerve wracking!

To help teachers grow in this area I think it is very important to praise the teachers who do show these characteristics. Sometimes teachers don’t receive enough PBIS, they are just the ones handing it out. But teachers need to know when they are doing things well and be appreciated for it!

Maier: I do not feel that our current system of evaluation does a good job of evaluating this aspect of a teacher. Although, I am not really sure how this could be solved as “caring” can be an incredibly subjective term that would be hard to rate. We are all different people who have and show different levels of caring in different ways. You cannot make an evaluation that would accurately meet everyone’s ability to be caring. Of course, we all hope that each teacher who walks through the door is here for the right reasons and has a deep passion and high level of care for what they are doing, but you just never know.

As a principal, one of the best ways to know that your teachers are caring is to be able to read people during the interview stage and then over the course of each year. Doing regular walk throughs and keeping your eyes and ears open in general for things that are happening throughout the day will also give you indicators of caring. How a teacher addresses their students, sets up their classroom, and approaches their lessons all tell you about their level of caring. I also think that building honest and open relationships with staff members will also give you some good indicators of their level of caring. These relationships will also lead to more situational awareness and knowing what is going on around the school and community and what is going on amongst your staff. There are endless stressors that can trigger an uncaring appearance, however, if this is a constant problem for a particular staff member, then it needs to be addressed.

As others have stated, I am not sure that this is a trait that can be taught to someone who does not have it. My best guess would be to model it and get these teachers into other classrooms to see what a “caring environment” looks like. Although, I do feel that teaching caring to an adult would be far more difficult then teaching it to a child. I also think this would be hard to bring up to someone…how do you tell someone that you think they are “uncaring?” Again, it is very subjective!

Schutte: I do believe that the attribute of a "caring" teacher is hard to observe and is definitely hard to recognize during the interview process. Things that you can observe are enthusiasm for the profession and committment to the school and to the students. A "caring" teacher is more focused on the impact they will have on others than the sacrifices a teaching career entails. They are willing to accept the extra duties and long hours that often occur throughout the school year.

As McEwan states on page 32 "if students know their teachers respect them, they work harder, take correction more readily, and are more willing to take responsibility for their actions." In my experience with a low income school with limited resources, children in today's world desperately need adults to look up to. They are searching for someone to love and care for them. Teachers can have a lasting impression on their students whether good or bad. This chapter provided several examples of students that were influenced by teachers in order to succeed.

Teachers need to not just get to know their students academically, but they must get to know them on a personal level as well. There is so much of the "silent curriculum" that goes on especially in the elementary classroom. The "teacher" of yesterday is gone. We are asked to do so much more with little or no support from the community. "The call to teaching and passion to meet students' needs are essential to help teachers survive" (p. 29). I often feel the burnout taking place and must be energized and reminded of the real reason why I got into teaching the first place. It definitely wasn't for the pay and recognition. I did it in order to influence kids and help them become successul.

Laughlin: I believe the characteristic of caring is an essential part of teaching and those teachers who have it always have it. I do not feel that evaluating caring is in the current evaluation system. I believe a principal could observe things that demonstrate a caring teacher during the interview process as well as throughout their teaching. This would be questions or situations where the teacher shows their passion for the profession, or situations in their classroom where they are demonstrating not just teaching content, but teaching the whole child. I feel questions could be posed to a candidate that would show if they go above and beyond the act of teaching within their classroom. I agree with Annette that caring is very subjective and difficult to evaluate, but strongly believe that a teacher who has the whole package is a better candidate than one who just has content knowledge. "Teachers must inspire as well as instruct" (p. 40) if these words are carved in limestone at the University of Indiana school of Education then caring must be somewhere in the teaching profession and as principals we need to look for it.

// Sherri Peterson- The adult-child relationship is the most important and the foundational piece in order for learning to take place. A caring teacher is essential and as hard as the work has become I personnally cannot imagine how difficult it would be to do this work without caring about the students and their learning. During the interview process it is difficult to get to this aspect of a teacher's personality, but there are a few questions that the author identified in the back of the book that might assist a principal to get to this trait. "Why did you decide to become a teacher?"; How have you or will you handle personal setbacks and failure in your classroom?" ; In what ways would you demonstrate caring for the students in your classroom?"; "What does empathy mean to you? Describe how being empathetic might look in your relationships with students and parents."; or "What does it mean to be a fair teacher?" Questions such as these will give the interviewer an opportunity to ascertain what values the teacher might possess. The other things I might look for would be opportunities that ithe nterviewee has taken advantage of as a student or as an adult in the community to help others. I do think that this is a characteristic that would be difficult to help a person develop if they do not already have it. In my opinion, you are a caring person or you are not. There may be circumstances that occur in this person's life that help to develop caring, but it would not be something that another person could control or assign. // // I would agree with Dani that our current evaluation process does not specifically assess a teacher's caring, but the engagement of students would certainly be affected by a caring teacher. If a teacher has positive relationships with each and every student that will surely be evident in the learning that is taking place and the classroom management. As a principal, I would be observing closely in classrooms to see how the teacher engages with students and if a teacher did not exhibit a caring attitude it would be something I would want to address with the teacher. // My first thought was the teacher evalution system has little to do with caring. With more thought I believe it does indirectly. If a teacher is caring, dedicated and coachable an administrator will more than likely evaluate them as meeting standard. As a building principal it will be iimportant to build upon that strength by praising strengths and coaching and providing supports needed to advance other skills. Teachers, just like students, need to be recongized individually and collectively for their work and innovations even when they do not go well.

At one of my schools I have been involved with interviews for special education teachers for the last three years. This summer I was part of an interview team with the building principal and an assistant principal new to the district. We interviewed a candidate who did not have a special education endorsement. In his interview it came through that he cared about kids, had experience providing accommodations and modifications and was coachable. The adminstrator new to the district was concerned that he had no special education background. I pointed out the strengths I observed during the interview and explained that we could train him on everything else! (Pugh)

In order to have caring, positive, and real teachers, we can use the hiring process and Iowa’s evaluation system. First let’s look at the hiring process. During the interview a principal/hiring team can ask questions that reflect a person’s character. This chapter discusses trait was as being mission driven and passionate. A question during the interview could be about why they chose the teaching profession. A principal or hiring team would look for answers leading towards the candidate having a calling to this profession. Trait number two of being positive and real could have an interview question focusing around how would you establish a classroom of respect and caring and include parents/families in this atmosphere. The last trait in this category is teacher-leader. I would frame a question around providing an example of how you felt you were a leader. How would you lead your classroom? All of these questions could tell you a great deal about a candidate’s personal traits.

How do you then nurture this once you hire them and pull this into their evaluations? One of the best ways would be to lead by example. If you expect your staff to have these traits then you need to exemplify them. I like the example of showing respect includes the teacher’s lounge. Our principal has made it known you do not talk about students or families in the teacher’s lounge or front office. His secretaries are told to let teachers know they need to move their conversation elsewhere if they are talking about a student or family. I believe how we frame our conversations with teachers, being positive and respectful of families, then it will help shape how they talk about them. I even think going as far as stopping them when they go down that pathway. As for teacher evaluations, I think the following can easily tie in to this chapter are:

1g: Communicates with students, families, colleagues, and communities effectively and accurately.

3c: Uses students developmental needs, backgrounds, and interests in planning for instruction.

All of Standard 6 on Classroom Management

8b: Demonstrates professional and ethical conduct as defined by state law and district policy.

8d: Demonstrates and understand of and respect for all learners and staff.

8e: Collaborates with students, families, colleagues, and communities to enhance student learning.

Finally, I think by looking at the ISSL Standards, we see it is a principal’s duty to push teachers to the best potential and enhance their goals. I believe our principal does a great job of knowing his staff and where they want to see their future going. He assists and coaches them to help reach those goals. Ways he does this is by providing research articles, experiences, and additional coaching in order for them to reach the goals they have set for themselves. (Breitfelder)

(Moran) I think if we look at the Iowa Standards, they do a great deal for us in the aspect of "caring." I understand some have posted how the caring characteristic is difficult to measure. I agree. Certainly I would agree that questions can be asked during the interview process but some people are just good at interviewing and can practice a line like the best of them. I cringed when I read the part about the teacher wanting to join the district "for the benefits." I don't think this is a trait any should even attempt to measure. However, principals and evaluators should be able to determine whether the standard of caring deemed appropriate has been reached. Leisa beat me to it, but there are multiple standards that can show some degree of caring from teachers. They are reflected in standards 1, 6, and 8. The problem isn't that we don't have these standards in place. I think it is that some districts don't hold teachers accountable to uphold the standards. After a teacher's first 2 years of teaching, they are given a pass/fail grade. Because some administrators don't document enough and don't want to deny a license (or have fierce conversations), they are left to pass a perhaps mediocre teacher. This type of process leaves no room to distinguish between mediocre teachers who barely pass the standard and exemplary teachers who show great artifacts. I think some sort of comprehensive grading system of a teacher portfolio is not out of line. From my experience, administrators are left running through the motions and entering a pass/fail without the ability to give meaningful feedback. This would satisfy both questions from above because in addition to growing this type of character within your own district, one could have interviewees bring their portfolios to the interview process. Even further, perhaps candidates could be a provisional hire until they have reached proficient in all the standards (for the new hires with experience). I see multiple options but easier said than done.

(Daters) I agree completely agree with many of the posts above. Chapter two led a strong case for why "Character Counts." I also agree that many of our standards touch on this idea of character but of course there is not one that is completely focused on character which makes the evaluation of it difficult. Also, evaluating character is something that personally I feel could be a very touchy subject. I think about how many personalities there are in the world and how well people in general understand each other's personalities. It scares me a little to think about evaluating character in ways more than the way they are already incorporated in the teaching standards because I feel that personalities could hinder effective evaluation of character. With all our recent discussions about judgement lately too, I realize just how much judgement there is in the standards. The standards use words like respect, collaborate, effective, demonstrates, etc and I cannot help but wonder if those words create more problems for evaluation than support. On page 33 in this chapter, the authors quote Henry James' definition of a caring teacher. After reading that, and think about how I would evaluate that, I thought about all the kids that maybe don't show love in a traditional way in the present and years later finally are able to express the "care" they felt from a teacher. Scary business!!! I think all of this relates to the hiring process as well. There is no way to know for sure the character of a person you are interviewing. I personally think that good references is the best way to get a look into someone's character. Using people that know the people the best will give the most realistic glance into who that person will be and whether or not they will have essential character traits to be a good teacher.

While I agree with the statement about being a caring teacher as essential to being an effective teacher, I am not sure that the current evaluator system has a way to effectively evaluate the "caring" aspect. When looking at the current Iowa teaching standards, it is apparent that the caring factor fits into the idea of creating an effective and productive classroom, as well as the standard based on ethics. I think that caring is something that is not as simple as seeing it or not seeing it, but more of a grey area for evaluators. However, when looking at how to evaluate character or caring during an interview, it is difficult. The only thing that would allow for a character or carring check would be to contact and communicate with former employers and collegues. I do think that the importance of character is essential to effective teaching, there needs to be a more effective way to evaluate this aspect in the classroom. This will be a great challenge as Iowa revamps the evaluation process. (Zabel)

Sunni Hart- I have to say that I agree with the statement because I am a big believr in the power of building realtionships. However, I also have to agree with Christine and Jordan when they discuss the difficulty in evaluating the trait of caring. I can think of a lot of teachers that I know that are very caring people. When the author, ELaine McEwan talks about the trait of caring I do not believe it is the simple trait of being a caring person. A caring teacher sets limits for kids, has high expecationis, follows through with what they say, and has a relationship with kids academically as well as personally. "The teacher who succeeds is getting herself [himself] loved by the pupils will obtain results which one of a more forbidding temperment finds it impossible to secure" (pg. 33). As ateacher that has worked with at-risk kids for a number of years, the power of building a realtionship is endless! Once a genuine relationship has been built that includes expecations, rules, and limits the sky is the limit. Students will push themsleves to higher limits with the support and encouragement of thier teachers who genuinely cares about them. An artifact for this trait, a degree of effectiveness with this trait, now that is a tough question. I think when hiring this kind of person it will take asking the right questions of previous employers to find of the personality of this peson. What kind of relationship did she/he have with thier co-workers? What would the students say about this teacher? What did the families say about this teacher? Was there a lot of families that requested this teacher for thier child? These are questions that could give a feeling of how caring or genuine a teacher is.

Cassandra Hart: Attitude reflection leadership” I agree with you Christine, Leaders have to lead by examples and continue to have high expectations. It’s set the tone of the building. Bangell said it best,” I know it when I see it”. For me it all goes back to the first trait, “Mission Driven and Passionate. I can relate to McEwan describing “being called to teach.” Not everyone understands that mindset. It’s the force that insides you that drives you to go beyond what is expected of you as a teacher or administer. You don’t stop and never quit even when it’s tough. Caring is within and it’s a learned habitat that can be modeled. In our building we began pulling the layers back by developing Norms. Anytime when you have those “fierce conversations” it becomes your relationship. It the very foundation that hold us together as we build on your journey together. I can see how an effective teacher can demonstrate how caring is aligned with the Iowa Teaching Standards. Yes, Building relationships is always vital. It reminds me of when I was interview and the questions that were asked. I had a 21/2 hour interview for my current position. Questions do have power!

There are many thing that our evaluation process does do, however, it is incapable of measuring the amount of empathy a teacher has. The book clearly links caring to overall impact on students lives, "teachers who rated highly we rarely praised for their knowledge of subject matter, teaching methods, or materials... What really mattered to those students were the teachers human qualities." Unsurprisingly, there is no real check mark for caring in the score/data driven future of evaluations. While this could be a problem - I'm not sure that I worry to much about this, because effective teachers care. The teachers that I see who struggle to keep student engagement, only partially teach, or do not push students to learn outwardly display those sign or a lack of empathy or caring to begin with. Furthermore, it is our job to empower the teacher to open themselves to students in this manner. Through the interview process, we must probe with questions that give us insight to a young teachers open caring mindset. We must follow those up with the necessary conversations behind the scenes to understand someone's level of empathy in previous positions. Wile there may not be a box to check on the evaluation for level of caring, there are plenty of way to gauge it through teacher effectiveness, conversations, past experiences, and formal and informal observations. (Einsweiler)